When Ryan Reynolds – full of retro suave and cool – enters the gambling den, it’s clear that Mississippi Grind will be the story of a confidence trickster pulling a swindle on a Ben Mendelsohn that is, as they say, ‘down on his luck’.

This is where the film is heading, but it never gets there.

Instead, we’re ushered calmly between light and shade. No outrageous motives or gimmicks, just a narrative energy that keeps your heartbeat tied to the swampy guitar licks of Scott Bomar’s score.

The film doesn’t outrun you nor does it lag behind.

While Reynolds is magnetic, Mendelsohn’s softly spoken eyes tell the real story, as they freestyle bitter-sweetly on the entangled themes of hope, hopelessness, self-loathing and good intentions.